ADVOCACY
World Future Energy Summit
2035 and the complete end of Amazonian deforestation by 2030. Showing success across these focal areas will continue to build its leadership legitimacy in high-level international talks such as the G20 summit, which the government hopes will further build Brazil’s position as host of COP30 next year. EQUALITY AND SOCIAL INCLUSION Brazil’s sustainability ambitions extend beyond environmental protection; the foremost objective of the Lula administration is to reduce all forms of societal inequality, both domestically and internationally. This priority will be at the forefront of the agenda at this year’s G20 summit. Key agenda items that present the perfect platform to discuss the host nation’s specific ambitions at the national and international levels include: • Food security. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Lula noted that hunger affects 735 million humans worldwide, and that number is increasing thanks to widening wealth gaps. Lula aims to end hunger in Brazil by 2030, while calling for a similar global target. The G20 summit will look at boosting global food security through innovation in agriculture, more equitable farming practices and logistics, and better mechanisms for collective efforts on fighting famine; and • Eradication of key diseases. Inextricably linked to poverty, treatable diseases are still a major blight on developing countries
around the world. The summit aims to put in place stronger healthcare access pathways that will lead to the eradication of diseases that have tried and tested vaccines, as well as putting an end to HIV/AIDS. KEEPING THE PARIS AGREEMENT TARGET ALIVE Brazil is a world leader in transforming industries and economic practices to improve environmental sustainability: 90% of its domestic electricity consumption and 50% of its overall energy production comes from clean sources. Admittedly, Brazil benefits greatly from its vast hydroelectricity capacity, but that has not caused the country to rest on its laurels. Brazil was way ahead of the bioethanol fuel curve, introducing it in 1975. More recently, Brazil has led the way on integrating biofuels into its public transport systems, accounting for 22% of Brazil’s transport energy in 2022. At last year’s G20 summit in India, Brazil used its experience and leadership to help launch the Global Biofuels Alliance, a new initiative to boost biofuel adoption and innovation worldwide. The climate change section of this year’s G20 summit agenda is almost as detailed and diverse as the items dedicated to the global economy. Standout topics include: • Bolstering biodiversity; • Reinforcing the renewables revolution; • Expanding global energy security; and • Making trade and climate action mutually beneficial.
FAIRER TAXATION AND FUNDING Alongside concrete measures for improving climate action and more rapidly decarbonising the global economy, Brazil’s government has repeatedly called for faster progress on improving the speed, fairness and transparency of climate financing mechanisms. Brazil has proposed a raft of measures to this end – greater allocation of contributions to climate relief funds, reform of multilateral development banks and even a 2% tax on billionaires (which proponents claim could raise $250 billion in revenue annually). Given the complex and diversified nature of billionaires’ wealth, pushing this last plan through will require robust international cooperation as part of a wider debate planned on global taxation reform. AMBITION AND BACKBONE With the G20 Summit and COP29 rapidly approaching, it’s hard not to feel that the forces of change are aligning. Brazil has made bold overtures to its friends and allies within South America and abroad so that their voices will be heard on climate change. With a broad range of ambitious yet highly targeted measures to bring to the table in November, there is already a sense that Brazil’s increasingly confident leadership can inject much-needed momentum into some of the most pressing climate issues facing the world today. LEEN ALSEBAI Leen Alsebai is the general manager of RX Middle East and head of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. She has served as both a board member of Reed Exhibitions in the United Arab Emirates and as their chief financial officer. @WFES : worldfutureenergysummit.com
The World Future Energy Summit brings the global clean-tech and sustainability community together to network and do business
75
globalgovernanceproject.org
2024 — G20 BRAZIL: THE RIO SUMMIT
Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease